Chapter 6---Are Top 10 Lists Really That Cool?

12-21-17 Chapter 6--Are Top 10 Lists Really That Cool?

Hello Everybody, how the hell are ya?  One of the first pieces of advice I got when I decided to start my blog was to do Top 10 lists.  Everybody loves a list, I was informed.  Top 10 places to eat BBQ, Top 10 list of best movies ever, Top 10 list of favorite styles of underwear.  Everybody loves a list.  Is their even 10 different kinds of underwear anyway?  So hear is my first and hopefully not last Top 10 list.  Now some things on this list may make you wonder if I am sane, #IAMNOTCRAZY, I will prove it to you.  So here it goes............Top 10 Favorite Smells Of My Youth, in no particular order. By the way there are 12 things on my Top 10 list.  After all its my list. I can do what I want. Isn't it funny how  smells from  years ago are imprinted in your mind like words scratched in concrete.  Smells, both good and bad are related to your memories or vice versa.  It doesn't matter, they are there forever.  

1--Fresh Cut Hay

     

 If you don't understand this one I can't help you.  The aroma of a field of prairie hay or alfalfa  laying down  makes me remember good days.  Fresh cut alfalfa and prairie hay have a smell 

you will never forget and you won't want to.  Its a sweet nectar that lures its victims into a trance and then won't let them leave.  A lot of people think that hay smells so good because its a good cash crop. While that may be true, the smell of a meadow of freshly cut hay is worth much more then it's cash value.  A fragrance etched in my mind..........

2--Bacon Cooking

The house I grew up in had the kitchen on the west end and my bedroom on the east end.  Countless mornings I can remember waking up to the smell of bacon cooking on the stove.  I really feel sorry for vegetarians and vegans.  They just don't have the understanding of the good bacon has done for this country. My memories of bacon cooking also reminds me of a warm home and a warm bed.  Sniffing that holiness cooking on the stove all the way back into my bedroom was an assurance  that no matter what, I was warm, my belly was full and everything was going to be alright.  

3--Smell of  Leather, Old and New

It didn't matter if it was a new pair of boots, maybe a new bridle, new basketball shoes or a freshly oiled saddle.  The smell of leather is, to this day, intoxicating.  Its a smell of days gone by. I have a old saddle that was originally ridden by my granddad and then passed down to future generations. Every time I got a smell of that broken down old saddle, even today, I can smell my forefathers.  I get a picture in my mind of a worn, sweat stained Stetson.  I get a picture of a lanky fellow that when I blink my eyes has aged into an overweight middle aged  or older gentleman.  A guy that when he senses a horse was going to pitch a little bit, could shift his weight in the slightest manner and stop the misbehaving.   It's a smell of the tools of hard work.  Have you ever been in a real boot or saddle shop?  I truly believe that smell is in heaven.  I used to love going to John D's store in Woodward.  They never had the newest, hippest styles.  They never had what was cool.  They did however have that real leather smell.  I used to love hearing John D and dad visit.  Even as a "too cool" teenager I loved shopping at the outdated store.  It was like a treasure hunt trying to find that one pair of boots in a B width.  I know, that's a narrow foot, but they always had a pair of boots that I thought was cool and was in our price range.  

4--Pine Shavings

Kind of weird, right? When a bag of compressed pine wood shavings is opened these days it reminds me of the days of stock shows from my younger days.  Stock shows were a great time in my life.  We went all over showing pigs and lambs.  From local shows to the district show at Woodward, to the state shows and fairs in Oklahoma City and Tulsa to the two times I went to Denver to show at the National Western, those were the best times of my youth for sure.  I placed or won more then my share but, the best part of those days were the people I got to hang around with during the shows.  Friends that are still close to this day, people that are considered family and experiences that I will never forget.

5--Granddads Aftershave

Now that's a smell I will never forget.  It wasn't a high dollar cologne it was Old Spice.  As a little kid I was kinda stand offish from granddad. It was probably his health condition that always made me think that.  I wasn't scared of him, more like I didn't want to bother him, but one of my fondest memories is staying overnight at my grandparents and after he shaved he splashed that cheap Old Spice aftershave on his face.  He passed away when I was 8.  I wish  I could have smelled that aftershave a lot more............

6--Homemade Bread Baking

If you have smelled bread baking you know what I am talking about.  Its not just the bread baking, its even the dough rising in the loaf pans on the counter twice before you put them in the oven.  That smell isn't better then sex, but it's in the same ballpark.  That smell brings back memories of mom and grandma mixing  up dough, kneading the dough with their hands and then forming the dough into loaves and putting them in greased pans to rise before being placed in the oven to cook to golden deliciousness.  Then immediately pulling the bread out of the oven when it was a perfect color, burning your hands because, well it was hot, slathering butter or jam on a piece and cramming it into your mouth because the faster you ate the faster you could get another piece.  To this day I would rather have a piece of homemade bread with butter and peach jam then any dessert I could think of.  Great memories of a great smell.

7--BBQ and Grilling

You know that smell when you cook the perfect steak or burger.  You know that smell when that chicken or brisket or ribs you have on the grill have that perfect char smell, that's what I am talking about here.  I learned what I know about grilling from my dad.  He sure could cook a mean steak.  Hell, that steak was so good it could get up off the plate and kick your butt.  I learned from him to start with good meat, add a little salt and pepper and cook the meat right and you don't have to add all that other crap and ruin the meat you just cooked.  Whether low or slow, or a screaming hot fire to cook a steak, Dad always cooked good food.  I love to cook steaks and to this day I raise Hell if somebody puts steak sauce on a steak I cooked.  

8--Chewing Tobacco\Cigar  Smoke

Some people will think gross, but these are also the smells of my youth.  Grandad chewed Red Man.  Wow that was some stout chew.  Dad chewed Copenhagen and would occasionally smoke a cigar and my uncle Charlie chewed Wintergreen Beech-Nut.  I loved that stuff.  I could steal a chew from him as a kid and know I wasn't going to get told on.  Eventually I would swallow to much  tobacco juice, turn green and upchuck and as soon as I recovered, off I would go to get another chew.  The smell of tobacco is still one of my favorite smells.  Back then it was sign of manhood if you smoked or chewed, not so much these days but those smells of what was in the pouches and cans remind me of a more innocent time.  Times that unfortunately are long gone.  

9--Wood Burning in a Fireplace

Wood  smoke can be magical.  The fireplace in the house I grew up in was a workhorse.  There was actually two fireplaces, one in the family room and one in the basement right underneath the other one.  It produced a huge amount of heat and kept our house toasty.  In the mid 80's we had a destructive ice storm.  We were out of power for about a week, as I remember. I slept each night in front of that fireplace.  To this day, I can remember how much heat that thing put out and one of the byproducts of all that heat is a plethora of smoke.  The smoke of an alternative way of keeping warm. I still want a wood stove or fireplace in my house.  Hopefully one day that will happen.  

10--Cream Cheese Frosting

Ok, even to me this one is a little weird.  I'm not even talking about real homemade frosting.  Betty Crocker would do just fine.  The smell of that frosting meant one of two things. Either I was fixing to eat some carrot cake with that frosting or I was fixing to eat some red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  Usually, what that also meant was either it was a holiday and family was going to be there or it was my birthday and I was also going to open up some presents.  Either way, a win-win for me.  I'm really not much of a desert guy, but those by far are my two favorite cakes.

11--Kraft Pimento Spread

My wife tells me this is the nastiest stuff around, but to me it brings back great memories of smells and events that I will never forget.  When I was a little kid, occasionally I would get to go with the guys and ride the river pasture.  A couple thousand acres of salt cedar and rattlesnake habitat. Like it was yesterday, I can remember stopping for a rest and a snack at the pipeline bridge of Ritz crackers and Pimento spread.  Its was totally unhealthy, and probably shortened my life by  a few years but I got to hang out with Dad and Grandad, ride horses and look for sick calves.  On a side note, that couldn't have been more then a year or so before Grandad died.  I remember he had to stand on something to get on a horse and he still needed some help to swing his leg over the saddle.  If Grandma had found out he was horseback there surely would have been Hell to pay. I think even today, what would have happened if the horse would have fell with him, or the like, and he would have died, it would have been so much better than the 11 weeks he spent in the hospital prior to his death.  There is something to be said about going out doing what you like to do.  I remember that day, the smell of the pimento spread and the memories I will have forever.

12--Horse Sweat

It is not gross people .  There is something primal about being horseback, riding the afternoon away, returning home, unsaddling and getting a whiff of a horse's hard day of work.  I understand some  people are throwing up in their mouth right now, but horse sweat, by any account, is one of the greatest smell ever.  Maybe it made me feel like a cowboy, I don't know, but I knew if the horse was covered in sweat we must have been doing some work and, to me in my adolescent mind, meant I had been working and earning my keep. 

On the farm...........Not much happened on the farm today other then feeding because...............we finished our Christmas shopping.  Do I hear applause? I'm so glad this only happens once a year.  

So what did you guys think?  Did you like my Top 10 that became Top 12 list? Did you enjoy reading this blog post?  Let me know what you think.  Please like, share and tell everybody you know about my blog.  Its the only way to continue to grow this audience.  You can keep up with me on Facebook or you can follow me on Twitter @OKREDNECKFARMER.  You can also email me at bodarkspringsfarm@gmail.com.  Have a great rest of the day!!